Having just returned from my annual “business trip” to the Glenora Wine Cellars, formerly Zippo, U.S. Vintage Grand Prix and Racing Festival in Watkins Glen New York I thought it would be appropriate to give you a taste of some of the German metal out on display. In the next couple of days I’ll put up some posts of several of the German street and race cars that I came across for sale while cruising the garage and paddock. Over the course of the weekend I saw all the major marques we cover, except one, represented racing on the track and though there wasn’t one racing, an Opel GT was prowling the car corral. If you ever find yourself near the Fingerlakes region of New York early in September put this event on your calendar. It continues to be one of the largest vintage racing events in the country seeing between 400 and 500 of the finest and funkiest vintage and modern classic racers zooming around the birth place of road racing in America. Here is a small look at a few of the German machines:
The fast included:
1. a legendary 2000 Audi R8 that turned the fastest time of all competitors with ease.
2. a pair of BMW CSL racers looking and sounding fantastic.
3. a pair of serious M powered Formula cars.
4. a new 2011 Mercedes SLS, parked next to an equally fast Ferrari 599, I overheard someone say both cars were for sale.
5. Speaking of fast and Ferrari, the Audi S4 pictured in this photo can be seen leading a Ferrari 355 challenge. When the rains came Sunday the Audi took control garnering a second place overall in its class race. Despite a fogged windshield, due to non functioning defroster, the Audi left the Ferrari far behind in a roar of turbo whine and quattro powered rain plumes.
6-7.Audi wasn’t the only German with a quest to beat up on Ferrari, note the badge on the rear of this mean sounding Mercedes 190E 2.3-16V. Unfortunately for this Merc it finished back in the pack unceremoniously being out driven by the likes of a 4 door Peugeot 505.
The funny included:
8-9. Some of the amusing Porsche badges on the Pirate Racing team.
10.a Mercedes 190E M sport.
11. a BMW 323i with a bumper sticker describing how it feels being out on the track.
The pretty included:
12. a nice looking BMW E28 M5
13. a cherry 500E with some contemporary German pals.
The doesn’t fit in any category:
14. a Vixen 21 BMW powered motorhome. These are extremely rare, 100 MPH RVs. Around 500 total were built and I suspect that combining the words high-speed and motorhome has resulted in far fewer surviving today. Ironically Jalopnik posted a picture of one just yesterday in a post about “Automotive Unicorns”. This one looked every bit like it came straight out of the movie Blade Runner. Very cool.
License Plates:
15-18.
~Evan
Welcome back and looking forward to all your coverage!
dc